What Is Up With Glavine?

By Shari Forst
Posted Saturday, June 23, 2007

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece called “Ode To Glavine” and it was sincere. Watching him through April and May was like watching a master class in major league pitching from an excellent and tenured veteran.

Then came the month of June and Glavine, who exhibited pinpoint control, has turned into the NY Mets version of a piñata, throwing batting practice his last few starts, nd the teams are teeing off like you wouldn’t believe.

One of our FU professors, Gary Gepner, had read my mind when he thought that Glavine may be pitching hurt, and like I have mentioned with Beltran and Delgado -- no one appreciates guys playing hurt if it hinders their performance.

I am now leaning towards thinking that this has been Glavine’s pattern for the last two seasons; he gets off to a great start and carries the team, and then he hits a bump in the road getting hit left and right.

Then after the month of June he gets himself together and is stellar the rest of the way. However one thing this time around that is troubling is the amount of home runs he has given up; the other is that he is a year older.

In the past he would seem to have one bad inning or two when this downslide would occur, but now he is struggling through every inning. The other problem is that the 300th win is right in his sites, and as we saw when Mike Piazza was looking to break the home run record for catchers, he didn’t hit much at all, let alone hit home runs.

I think if Glavine can get to 296 wins, he will realize that he certainly can get four more before the season is out and he will relax. Even thought he is a veteran, these important milestones really seem to affect these guys mentally.

My prediction is that Glavine will pull himself out of this hole he has dug for himself, but his team needs to pitch in and score some runs for him.

Monday night’s game against the Twins was a nice rebound for the team, scoring eight runs and actually winning the game -- unlike in Detroit. Although Tuesday night was a hideous disappointment being shut out 9-0, and Sosa the stopper had his first bad game since Atlanta.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Glavine will right the ship, and that elusive 300th win will come soon after he can earn his next victory by having a strong vintage Glavine outing.